Divisions


Our large and diverse team of faculty attend a wide spectrum of health issues of women, fetuses, infants, and families. Our faculty serve in most prominent leadership positions nationwide and internationally. We care for the women of Hawaiʻi. Annually, our faculty directly participates in approximately 2,400 deliveries of babies statewide. Our expertise in high-risk pregnancy management, obstetrical and gynecological ultrasound, gynecologic oncology, prenatal care in substance abuse, robotic surgeries, family planning, urogynecology, and patient safety and quality improvement, has tremendous impact on the success of our medical school, our community, and most importantly, our patients.

There are several divisions within the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health at the University of Hawaii John A Burns School of Medicine.

University of Hawaii’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health offers a full range of medical care for women’s health provided by physicians specializing in general obstetrics and gynecology, complex family planning, maternal-fetal medicine, infertility, urogynecology, gynecologic oncology, and women’s wellness.

All women in Hawai‘i should be able to make reproductive decisions that are consistent with their own values. The physicians of the Division of Family Planning provide medical and surgical abortion services and miscarriage management to women throughout Hawai‘i. With three Complex Family Planning fellowship trained physicians, we also provide comprehensive contraceptive services and specialize in innovative contraceptive technologies.

We are well-equipped to provide care to patients with complex medical issues. We receive referrals from across the state and are expanding telemedicine services to provide improved access to women living on the neighbor islands. We are committed to train the next generation of physicians. In 2006 we established the Ryan Residency Training Program, and in 2011, we were accredited for a Complex Family Planning Fellowship. Our graduated fellows are considered experts in their field both in Hawai‘i and throughout the world.

We are also leaders in family planning research. In 2017, the Women’s Health Research Center was awarded more than 2.3 million dollars in family planning research funding, bringing cutting-edge research to benefit the women of Hawai‘i.

The Complex Family Planning division faculty see patients for the full spectrum of ob-gyn care as well as for family planning-specific visits. More information about clinical services can be found at hawaiifamilyplanning.org

The Generalist Obstetrics and Gynecology division focuses on female reproductive health and maternal health during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum period. The physicians in the division provide exceptional care at every stage of a women’s life; some have been named in Honolulu Magazine’s Best Doctors of 2016.

Generalist physician care for patients in both the outpatient and inpatient settings. Outpatient settings include federally qualified health centers and faculty practices located throughout the state, both on O‘ahu and the neighbor islands. Physicians also serve as hospitalists providing urgent and emergent obstetrical and gynecologic care. However, while the division is focused on serving the medical and surgical needs of its community, it is not limited to clinical care. Division members also focus on clinical research and educating future physicians through its student clerkship rotations and its OB/GYN residency program to both serve the women of Hawai‘i and advance women’s health care in our state.

The sub-specialty trained, doubly board certified physicians of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology primarily care for women diagnosed with potentially malignant, pre-malignant and malignant gynecologic conditions as well as for those women who require specialized or complicated pelvic surgery or minimally invasive approaches to surgical conditions. Our academic physicians are nationally renowned experts compassionately caring for women with ovarian, uterine, cervical, vaginal, vulvar, and other gynecologic cancers. We use the most advanced surgical techniques and provide the most up-to-date treatments for our patients, including opportunities to receive the newest medications within National Cancer Institute sponsored clinical trials right here in Hawai‘i. We are constantly performing research to learn more about these cancers. Our team of physicians works closely with patient navigators, social work, pain and palliative care, emotional and psychologic support experts, financial resource experts, and other providers in an integrated cancer team approach that always provides the patient the best opportunity for a good experience and best possible result. We also care for patients who do not have a cancer diagnosis but require expert surgical care for complicated conditions such as abnormal pap smears, pelvic masses, endometriosis, or a desire for minimally invasive surgical approaches including robotic surgery-a method that requires tremendous surgical skill and allows patients to go home after a major surgery often in the same day and return to normal life quickly.

The gynecologic oncology division cares for all the women of Hawai‘i and the Pacific. Our work is concentrated at the major centers in Honolulu with local teams to ensure our patients the very best, but we also provide neighbor island outreach and work.

Maternal-Fetal Medicine physicians are high-risk obstetricians who have extensive training in providing care for women with medical complications during pregnancy and prenatal diagnosis for fetuses with high risk problems. We specialize in providing prenatal care and consultative care for pregnant women with medical conditions including diabetes, hypertension, congenital heart defects, epilepsy, lupus, and cancer. Members of our division provide medical care for women carrying fetuses with birth defects, geneticallyinherited diseases, blood incompatibility issues, congenital infections, triplet pregnancies and other higher order multiple gestations, and other diseases unique to pregnancy in coordination with Neonatology, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Genetics, Pediatric Surgery, and Family Planning services.

In addition, we provide prenatal fetal ultrasound, fetal echocardiogram, prenatal genetic testing with amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, as well as the latest advances in non-invasive prenatal screening. We also provide supportive care for women with recurrent pregnancy loss, stillbirth, and disorders of the placenta.

Our prenatal diagnosis and consultative services are primarily based at the Kapi‘olani Medical Center Fetal Diagnostic Center. We have recently extended our prenatal services to the Pali Momi Women’s Center on O‘ahu and Wilcox Memorial Hospital on Kaua‘i, with plans to open up new partnerships on Maui and the Big Island over the next year. In addition, we are collaborating with the Institute for Biogenesis Research at UH Manoa to develop a basic science research laboratory for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The faculty of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility provides a wide range of clinical services and research for women with various gynecologic, hormonal, menopausal, and reproductive disorders, including a highly successful in vitro fertilization program. In addition to teaching responsibilities for residents and medical students, faculty members are engaged in a number of clinical research projects.

The role of the Research Division is to support all research efforts in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health. The division’s faculty are researchers who direct their own research projects and also serve the Department through the goals of the division. These goals are to:

  • Develop the overall research endeavors of the department.
  • Grow the research to sustainable levels.
  • Find meaningful ways of integrating the research through successful collaborations.
  • Provide mentorship for all faculty, fellows, and residents in research.
  • Build and maintain the departmental research infrastructure.

Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery treat women with a full spectrum of conditions related to the bladder and reproductive organs. Our physicians are Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery. We offer cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment options for women with complex pelvic floor disorders, such as urinary incontinence, overactive bladder syndromes, pelvic organ prolapse, voiding and defecatory dysfunction, fecal incontinence, pelvic organ fistulas, diverticula and vaginal agenesis. Not all conditions require surgical treatment, but if surgery is necessary, all of our physicians are skilled at minimally invasive surgical techniques that often speed recovery time and eliminate the need for a hospital stay.

Services are provided at several hospitals and surgicenters on Oahu, and we receive referrals from all islands in the State of Hawai‘i. We are planning on expanding our services to provide care on the Island of Hawai‘i and the Island of Maui in the near future.